The road to happiness

Any other day, I might be happy to see the start of the rest of my life. But I didn’t even know it was going to be that day. “Kenzie! Time to get up!” Ugh. My roommate Sasha is wonderful, keeping me on time, but can’t a girl get some sleep on her birthday. Today, I turn 22 and will hopefully find my mate, FINALLY! Most werewolves find their mate the year they turn 18. Some of us are not as lucky, and have to wait. This means your mate may be in a surrounding pack land, maybe they are not 18 yet, or perhaps you end up as someone’s second chance mate, which is rare. Being someone’s second chance mate means that your mate died before you met them, and the Moon Goddess had a plan for you to not end up alone. Looking at the clock on my nightstand, and seeing it says 6AM, I groaned as I rolled out of bed. My shivered as my feet touched the cool floor under my feet while I lazily walked into the kitchen. The smell of fresh coffee and muffins made my stomach growl. Sasha and I have been roommates for 5 years now, and every year, she makes me breakfast on my birthday. “You weren’t supposed to be out of bed yet!”, She said in surprise as she tried to hang streamers from the accent lights over the bar. “Well, you yelled at me to get up, what did you expect?”, I laughed in response. “For you to be slow as always, giving me 20 minutes to finish decorating.” , She retorted. Yup, defiantly my best friend. “Too bad, it’s my birthday, you have to accept all of my shenanigans today.”, I said with a wink. “Besides, maybe it will be my lucky birthday, and the party the Alpha is throwing will reveal my mate.” Sasha sighed and mumbled something under her breath quiet enough for me to not hear it, even with my were hearing. Most shifters have a heightened sense of hearing. Some are gifted with other powers, like smell, sight, or even a little magic. “What was that?”, I asked her, my left eyebrow raised. She isn’t one to tip toe around a difficult conversation, even when what she is going to say, may hurt other’s feelings. “Nothing, just talking to myself.”, she said. Her expression was flat for just a moment before a huge grin spread across her face. “I have an idea about what we should do today before the party. I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping for a new dress, and grab some lunch before we get ready.” Sasha always used shopping as a way to distract me. She knows how much I love going to the mall and trying on clothes. It is like an adult version of dress up, because in these clothes, we can dream to be anyone. I walked to the counter, opened the cabinet above and grabbed my favorite coffee mug. Pouring myself a cup of coffee I responded, “Are you sure you want to spend the whole day in the mall with me? Aren’t you afraid you’re going to get bored after the first two hours?” Sasha grimaced slightly, clearly she forgot what it means to offer to go shopping with me. I chuckled and said, “Well, since we have to get ready before the party at 6, maybe it wont be such a long day at the mall.” She let out a breath, that I don’t think she even knew she was holding. “Perfect! I was thinking we can get to the mall around 9, grab a coffee, and wait for our favorite dress shop to open.” Sasha said as she grabbed a muffin from the pan she pulled out of the oven. “Blueberry or Lemon Poppyseed?”’ She asked as she put a blueberry muffin on the plate in front of her. “Lemon poppyseed please”, I replied. She makes the most lemony lemon desserts. And they are outstanding. The rest of breakfast was pretty quiet. We ate in silence, and it wasn’t the comfortable kind. It felt like Sasha was keeping something from me. I just couldn’t think of what it could be. It wasn’t a surprise party. She would never disrespect the Alpha in such a way. His party that he is throwing isn’t just for me, but it is a big part of the reason he invited more than just our neighboring packs. He sent an invitation to every pack within 5000 miles. Alpha Derek is in his mid 50’s, and has been the Alpha of the Greencreek pack since he was a teenager. His father was killed in an attack on our boarders while he was away at Alpha training. His Luna and mate, Jen, was one of the kindest women I have ever met. She is from our neighboring pack, and when Alpha Derek was visiting for pack relations, the rest as they say, is history. We all adore our Alpha and Luna, not only through the pack bond, but because they are the perfect example of how the Moon Goddess blesses people with true soul mates. They are the yin to the others yang. I admire their admiration and hope to find the same with my own mate.